Monday before Thanksgiving

I felt really good today, woke up at 9 am, which is super early for me, did 10 minutes on the Gazelle, ran some errands, did some cleaning. After feeling achy from my arthritis and bluesy from the rainy weather all weekend, I'm glad I had such a great turnaround day. I didn't eat super well today--in fact I went over my calorie goal by 500 calories. But one of the things the nutritionist wants me to work on is not beating myself up and to just start over. Plus, I ate out twice today, so it wasn't as awful as it could have been.

My personal goals that I'm working on and that the nutritionist had me write down are:

• 10-20 minutes of exercise after breakfast everyday (also, actually eating breakfast!)
• Fruits/veggies at each meal, which always been my goal, but I need to keep it right there in front of me
• Balance carbs with protein at each meal/snack
• Wake up and go to bed earlier to develop healthier habits

And the one the nutritionist stressed, but I haven't decided on, is to find my motivation. Why do I want to lose weight? What is going to keep me focused on the good days and the bad? Obviously I have a lot of reasons that I've talked about before, but what does that all boil down to?

F/V for the last couple days:

Saturday

• salad mix (3 cups)
• 1 whole tomato
• 1/2 banana
• 20 (!) oz of "most pulp" orange juice--I don't typically drink juice but this was yummy. I need to work on portion control

4 1/2 + juice, which I don't really count since it's not a whole fruit, but yay for some vitamins.

Sunday

• 0 fruits and veggies. Like I said, it was a bad weekend.

Both Saturday and Sunday I was over about 250 calories

Monday

• Mixed veggies on sandwich-1 cup
• small salad-1 1/2 cups
• zuchini, broccoli, red pepper, onion-1 cup

3 1/2 

I'm excited to work on adding more fruits and veggies to my meal plan this week. I'm getting ready to go to bed (midnight!) as part of my earlier to bed plan, but I am going to mock up some meals for tomorrow.

Nutritionist says....

I met with the nutritionist today and am pretty motivated after speaking with her. I can't say that I learned anything absolutely new, but it was good review, and more importantly she gave me some tips on how to apply things I know to myself. Some days I feel like I have all the info and the tools but I just can't make it work. She was also very encouraging as far as giving me advice on not beating myself up and how to get back on track.

She didn't think my idea to weight in once a month was great. I was pondering doing that because it's so easy for me to see a bad number on the scale and get frustrated and give up, but for now I'm going to follow what she said and still weigh weekly. I'm going to weigh in tomorrow to see how far off my home scale is from the doctor's office scale.

I'm going to meet with her again in about a month and by goal is to lose 8 pounds by then. That's two pounds a month so that should be doable. My second goal is going to be 7% of my body weight. I've shot for 5 or 10% before but she told me about the importance of 7% today in treating pre-diabetics. I'm not pre-diabetic and actually my blood sugar count was really good today, but that's something I've become more worried about the last couple of years.

Yesterday's fruits and veggies:

• 5 cups iceberg lettuce (divided between 2 meals)
• 1 whole tomato
•  1 1/2 cups green beans
• 1 small apple

Besides the fruits and veggies, my carbs for yesterday included some beans in the chili on my lunch taco salad, and a few crumbled tortilla chips on my lunch and dinner salads.

Today's fruits and veggies:

• a couple servings of broccoli salad, including broccoli, onion, and raisins
• 1 small apple
• 1 red pepper

Today's carbs, besides f&v, included soy milk in my latte treat with splenda this morning after my appointment. I'm doing well without the junkier carbs and will probably start to introduce some rice back in tomorrow, but I think I want to stay away from bread for a bit longer.

Another new leaf

I've had a rough couple months and I feel unmotivated and bloated and my eating is out of control. Every time I feel motivated and try to jumpstart my healthy eating, I feel like I lose control within a couple of days. I felt bloated and gross this weekend and felt like my clothes were tight and unflattering. While I'm not a huge low-carb fan, I do think that low-carb eating for a short time is great for getting rid of bloat and bringing me back to my senses. In other words, it helps me get off some of my drugs--sugar, bread, chips. All those snacky things that turn me into a raving nutcase.

Fruit and Veggie Roundup for the Day:

• 1 1/2 cups fresh green beans
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 3 cups iceberg lettuce (I realize the nutritional value is nil, but sometimes you just want iceberg...and sometimes your spring mix has gone bad because you haven't had a salad in two weeks)
• 1 whole tomato

I also had a good amount of protein and fat today, tomorrow I will back off of the fat some, I can definitely see where I can eliminate it from what I ate today. For instance, I didn't need oil in the pan and butter on top of my breakfast veggies.

Speaking of those veggies, I created a delicious recipe that I will defintely be making again! I love eggs but typically have to eat them with/on toast. A while back I ate some eggs over cooked spinach and it was ok, but I'm a texture junky and that was just a soft and mushy dish all the way through. Today I kicked it up with fresh green beans cooked until still crisp, chewy mushrooms just browned, and topped with tasty toasted sesame seeds that gave a great little pop. I put the eggs over the top and the creamy yolk made a great sauce over the veggies!

Here's my recipe:

Sesame Green Beans and Mushrooms with Eggs
Makes 1 Serving

1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 cups green beans, fresh, cut into thirds
Oil or butter, optional*
2 eggs
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, to taste.
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

In a large non-stick saute pan, cook the mushrooms and green beans in the oil or butter (optional) until mushrooms are brown and green beans are cooked but still crisp. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Push the vegetables into a ring on the edge of the pan and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.  Cook the two eggs in the center of pan. I like them over easy so the yolk becomes a sauce later. Plate the veggies and then the eggs on top, and slice up your eggs so the yolks mixes with everything. Very tasty and surprisingly satisfying!


*Like I said, I used a little oil in the pan and then topped with some butter at the end. Next time I'll definitely cut out the oil to cut some calories/grams of fat.

Back at it

I definitely lost my motivation there for awhile. But I think I have it back. No, I know I have it back. What's your motivation to lose weight? There's so many good reasons, right? Right now for me, the main reason is clothing. Yep, probably the least of the "good" reasons, and pretty shallow compared to lowered risk of heart disease and diabetes and a plethora of other reasons to lose weight.

But yeah, clothing. My current size (20-22) of clothing still fit. When I lose a few pounds everything I wear is a bit big, but I haven't quite been able to get back to an 18. But some of the clothes I am wearing right now are wearing out. Especially jeans between the thighs. I hate that. I also hate that I have dozens of pairs of smaller jeans that I can almost wear. Jeans that aren't worn out, that I already own.

Have I mentioned my clothing budget is almost non-existent? While I'm not working I'm living on the charity of my mother. Besides not making me pay rent/utilities/car insurance/etc, she gives me $25 a week cash so that I can go out with my friends or buy a little something I want or need. She's so sweet! I "saved" my money from the last two weeks and went on a spending spree (hah) at Old Navy. With a 30% off sale I managed to get 2 tank tops, two pairs of leggings, and 2 dresses, all for under $50 including shipping. Not bad! I would love if these were the last clothes I bought in this size.

So, besides the aforementioned clothing, here is my other current inspiration:

Yep, I got my Gazelle and my Bodyrow back from storage! There's finally enough room in the living room again. Pretty hard to watch tv if I'm staring at the exercise equipment and haven't worked out, right?

Veggie Fried Rice

Now that I've got some gluten free soy sauce I can make my veggie fried rice. A little rice, a little meat, and a lot of egg and veggies. Yum! I only used 1 ounce of cooked diced chicken with 3/4 cup cooked rice, but after cooking with the veggies and eggs it turned into two decent sized cereal bowls of food. For a little over 400 calories.

I've been gluten free for a week now, and although at first I was feeling better, the last couple days haven't been as good. I did go in yesterday to pick up the antacid my doctor prescribed for me, so today is my first day trying that. I hope it helps! I've been saying all along that if my test results are negative I'll stick with eating gluten free,  but now I'm not so sure. Maybe I'll give it the six weeks to decide, supposedly that's the amount of time you're supposed to give an elimination diet.

More Gluten Free Cookies--and a Loss

I'm down 4 1/2 pounds since the last time I weighed myself! To be honest I've been scared to get on the scale. I went way off plan for a while, then realized I was going to have to cut out gluten in the future (but couldn't until after the blood test) so went on a gluten/carb crazy eating spree. Then I got sick and lived on gatorade and saltines and other carbs. But I finally stepped on the scale this morning and was pleased to see a loss! I'm starting to think that I can do this gluten free thing while watching my calories!

I found these cookies on The Edible Perspective and they look so good! Just like these brownie style cookies we get from Safeway sometimes. I just need to check that cocoa powder is gluten free..it should be, right? I buy so many baking ingredients in bulk though it's a bit of a pain when I want to check a label!

http://edibleperspective.com/2011/03/chocolate-chewiness/
Cinnamon Walnut Chocolate Chewies [adapted from How Sweet It Is + 101 Cookbooks] yields ~18 cookies

• 12oz powdered sugar [sifted]
• 2oz unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1t cinnamon
• 1T vanilla extract
• 3 large egg whites
• 2c toasted chopped walnuts
• 1/2t salt

1. Preheat oven to 350* and line large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Toast walnuts on a baking sheet [don’t need parchment] for about 12-18min, turning once or twice, until lightly browned.
3. Let walnuts cool, on a plate in the fridge, while you’re mixing up the batter.
4. In your stand mix, sift the powdered sugar in the bowl.
5. On a low setting, mix in the cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt.
6. Still on low, add one egg white at a time and mix until the batter is moist throughout.
7. Add vanilla and turn on medium-high until the batter starts to thicken and soft peaks form.  This will take just a few minutes.
8. Carefully fold in the walnuts.
9. Spoon the batter [more like cake batter than cookie batter] onto the cookie sheet.  You want to leave a good 2” in between each cookie.  I only put 6 cookies on each large cookie sheet, so they had enough room.
10. Bake each sheet for 15–17min.  The cookies will crack and look shiny when done. 
11. Let fully cool before moving them from the pan.  This allows them to stiffen up a bit inside.  If you eat one hot off the pan [believe me you will] the center will be quite soft.

Workin' the gluten free

Yesterday I was gluten free but way over my calories. I did still track in My Fitness Pal, so that's something! Today has been an odd mix of food already (banana with pb and miso soup for breakfast??)  but I've found a few more things that are gluten free (and baked some of those almond butter cookies!)

More snack ideas:

I love quaker rice cakes with a smear of peanut butter and a piece of fruit.
Veggies and hummus, or hummus with rice crackers. Trader Joe's has mini rice crackers~37 for 130 calories with very low fat.
Turkey slices rolled up with laughing cow
I always forget to eat canned tuna but it's a great protein. Mix it up with a little light mayo, mustard, and some chopped onion/celery/carrots and plop it onto a salad, that salad is going to be much more filling!
Peanut butter or almond butter on a banana is surprisingly filling
A couple eggs scrambled with veggies/cheese/salsa. To lighten up use Egg beaters, or combo 1 whole egg plus egg whites. Eat with a corn tortilla (less cals than flour tortilla)
Miso Soup!
Canned Soup
Thai Kitchen Rice noodles soup (lemongrass and chile, yum!)
Celery with pb or cream cheese